Universal credit’s two-child limit and the benefit cap must end now | Letter

The Covid-19 crisis exposes these two policies as arbitrary and unfair, say 50 campaigners including the bishop of Durham and the leaders of Child Poverty Action Group and Oxfam GB

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As the first universal credit (UC) payments start to come through for the tens of thousands of families who have had to claim it because of Covid-19, they will discover that there is no support in UC for their third or subsequent child if that child was born after April 2017, when the “two-child limit” policy came into effect. Only that child’s older siblings will be eligible for child allowances in UC to meet their needs.

The government’s rationale for the policy is that parents claiming UC or tax credits should face the same choices about the number of children they can afford as those supporting themselves solely through work. But the current national crisis has exposed that argument as untenable. Even in normal times, no parent can be sure that their financial security will withstand unpredictable events such as illness, bereavement or redundancy. Certainly no parent could have had foresight of Covid-19, and so planned their family size accordingly.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3eFFHDD